Unusual settlement

Lender's Mire was different from what D had envisioned. He expected another shantytown similar to Nimil only worse. Nimil was the largest outpost in the region so in contrast Lender's Mire should be inferior. It was much smaller than even the tiny outpost city of Nimil as it only boasted what appeared to be three buildings. That said, the three buildings were far from shacks. Although not mansions by any stretch they could be considered proper buildings, with solid walls, roofs, and even glass in the windows.

This was only possible thanks to the half earth half palisade walls surrounding the tiny settlement. On top of that, the area all around it was covered in what looked like punji spikes while the last hundred or so feet of the road supported raised earthen walls on both sides. This created a narrow channel right into the gates. So that any attacker either needed to rush up against the field of punji spikes to get to a high wall or rush down the trench towards the gate. D stopped to inspect the raised earthen wall and recognized the work of a mage. He'd seen plenty of similar constructions raised in preparations for the fight against the ancient Destroyer.

Looking around he expected to find wards placed as well, but other than the earthen walls he saw no signs of magic being used. He still found it odd that a mage would have raised the walls, mages were rare. So the idea of having one come out to raise walls in the middle of nowhere, but not place wards didn't make much sense. D lacked the expertise to tell just how long ago the walls were raised but he decided to be on guard against magic as well, Dean's warnings hadn't completely fallen on deaf ears.

Tightening the straps of his backpack D marched the last bit to the gates of Lender's Mire. Before he made it all the way to the gate a voice shouted out. "Identify yourself!"

"I'm D. I'va contract for Bunyips." D shouted out not seeing the source of the voice other than it came from the wall ahead. After a short pause, the gate slowly opened letting out three men. One was armed with a spear, the other with an axe, while the last one had a large sword. The one with the axe in one hand was carrying a lantern in the other. Between the tall palisade wall and the earthen walls, the entrance was heavily shadowed with the coming twilight. The axe wielder raised the lantern to shine its light right on D's face.

Stepping forward the man with the huge two handed sword reached back to let it slide into a large half sheath strapped to his back. "You have a contract?" The disbelief in his tone was clear to hear.

D produced the contract and held it out to the man. Stepping closer to take it D got a better look at the speaker. He was tall standing around five foot eleven with a broad imposing build. His hair was tightly cropped close to his skull and had probably once been blond but now was mostly gray. His grey green eyes scanned the contract and he even paused to rub the seal at the bottom between his thumb and forefinger before handing it back. "You some midget?"

"No." D responded.

"How old are you, boy?" The man was squinting as he sized up D, his eyes lingered on the scales peeking out from his clothing.

"Twelve or Thirteen probably." D answered with a shrug. "That a problem?"

"How do you not know your own age?" The man's squint became a frown as he looked the boy over a second time. Slowly his frown lessened and he sighed, muttering something under his breath. "Never mind, I can guess. Fine, come on in."

Once the three men led him through the gate they pushed it closed then used a winch to set the large bar in place. Within the walled settlement, there were a few tents set up right near the gate. "Work ain't to start til tomorrow. You can stay in one of the tents. Got only a few of you so far. Latrines that way." He pointed off behind one of the three buildings that up close looked to be stables of some sort. "Food will be brought out to you, all the buildings are off limits. We catch you poking around and you don't have to worry about completing the contract, or anything else."

A few men came out of the tents, both looked rough and reminded D of his first owners. D ignored them and instead took a good look around. With his talent with wards he didn't need a spell to see wards, he was in tune with them enough to sense their energy without aid. Right then he was searching the settlement for any other signs of magical use, both to assess the threat potential to himself and the defensive capabilities of the settlement he was going to have to protect.

Jeremiah Lender eyed the unusual boy, he still wasn't completely sure what to make of a child with a hunter's license. Even ignoring the hunter's young age Jeremiah was having a hard time getting a feel for him. Right now the odd teen was eying Lender's Mire with the sharp eye of either a battlefield commander or a skilled thief scoping his next mark. Jeremiah wasn't sure which one it was but either coming from the unassuming boy unnerved him. As did the heavy scale armor that it looked like he was wearing under his other clothes. Such armor wasn't too uncommon for hunters, but it was more common to experienced veterans that were used to killing bigger prey. Not the kind that would take a baited contract to fight off some Bunyips. Jeremiah wasn't planning on screwing over those he hired, he was more than willing to pay the per kill bounty. As for the sword, with the plan they had in place, he was certain to claim the most kills.

That said if the hunters he hired decided to thin the number of people he had to pay on their own he wouldn't make a fuss. After intently scanning the settlement, other than the same type of earth magic being used to create the rest of the walls he saw no signs of magic. Turning to face the sword wielder D asked bluntly. "Magic was used to build the walls, but you've no wards?"

Jeremiah's brows shot up in surprise before he could catch himself but he quickly calmed his face. "You've a sharp eye boy. My name's Jeremiah Lender, My grandaddy built Lender's Mire. He was a retired hunter and a mage."

D nodded hearing all he needed to know. He then turned and started to head to one of the tents. "What was your name, boy?"

D didn't bother looking back but just said. "D."

Jeremiah watched the boy pick out the smallest tent before entering it. He wasn't sure what was going on, all his expectations were being thrown off. Seeing a boy playing hunter wasn't unusual, finding one that was actually a hunter less so. Still, it wasn't unheard of, he knew some hunters "acquired" apprentices early on. But the boy didn't seem like an amateur, scale armor and an eye sharp enough to spot the use of magic in Lender's Mire's construction spoke of experience. Unless of course, it was all a setup. Jeremiah turned his gaze from the small tent to the other two hunters that had accepted his contract. Were they in on it? Those two definitely seemed the shady type even amongst hunters, but so far they'd followed the rules.

Jeremiah resolved to keep a closer eye on all three now and to doubly watch any new hunters that showed up. He didn't expect many to show up for a baited contract but a few more might straggle in tomorrow. With a sigh, he nodded to his two cousins silently reminding them to stay alert as he headed towards the main house.

Once Jeremiah entered the house he was surprised and annoyed to find his daughter peeking through the curtains. He quickly shut the door before grabbing her by the arm to yank her away from the window. "What did I tell you Dorothy about going near the windows while we have strangers in the walls? How many times do I have to warn you girl, we don't want trouble, and if their type even gets a whiff of a woman that's what we are likely to get."

Dorothy was tall for her twelve years of age, standing just shy of five seven. She had also inherited her father's stocky build with broad shoulders and a wide strong face. Her mother had given her a button nose and blue eyes to match with her pale skin, however freckles across the tops of her cheekbones and nose marred her complexion. "Oh, so now I be a woman. Treat me like a child when you want to boss me around a woman when you want to scold me." Her tone and accent were too much like her mother's making Jereimah miss his dearly departed spouse painfully.

"None of your sass now girl." Jeremiah walked past her pulling the bardic off his shoulder to hang on a peg in the entranceway. Turning around he found his daughter once again peeking out the window. "Damn it, girl! What did I just tell you?"

"But daddy!" Her voice was higher pitched and she accented the word daddy with practiced grace. She knew well how to handle her overprotective father. "I'm careful, barely a crack I be making. No way anyone might see me!" She gazed up at him with trembling eyes knowing his anger wasn't really at her. "Besides dad, was that a boy you just brought in? I mean an actual boy, not a man?" Her tone held too much excitement for her father's liking.

"No! It was a midget, with a scruffy beard and crossed eyes. Looked to have lice too! And horrible breath. Bad skin! And a lisp!" Her father barked out the series of lies which only made his daughter's eyes narrow. Turning around she once again peeked out the curtain. Jeremiah was just about to scold her when the girl turned with a strange expression on her face.

"Dad, something weird is going on. There are lights coming from that boy's tent, but I've never seen lights like that before!"